rebuilding the towers would be the most fitting memorial to the victims. if i were one of the victims of this attack, i would wish no less than this.
a standard memorial to the victims of this attack is necessary, but rebuilding the towers would be the greatest tribute we could give them. Doing anything less would be an insult to the memories of those we have lost.
Just a few additional thoughts:
The Pentagon and the WTC each had similar numbers of occupants at the time of the attacks (well, within a few thousand, anyway). Estimated death toll at Pentagon: 100-200. Estimated toll at WTC: at least 3,000, could be up to five times that. Obviously the design of the structures (10-story structure spread over a large surface area vs. 110-story twin towers) had a considerable influence on these figures. Doesn’t this suggest that housing strategic targets in 110-story spires may be a bad idea?
Constructing another massive office block for financial transactions, on a foundation of thousands of dead, seems to be in poor taste, at the least. I’d prefer to see a memorial, and the office space reconstructed elsewhere (hey, why not Hoboken?)
If y’all are bound and determined to go ahead with this, I’ll just shake my head and go away, but if you want to protect your shiny new WTC II against future attacks, there’s no need to harden it against airplane strikes. Just take a tip from WWII: barrage balloons. For those who don’t know, these were static blimps linked by heavy cables, with additional cables suspended from the links. These were highly effective in preventing low-level bombing attacks as planes would be sliced apart if they attempted to run through the cables.
No extra charge. 
While it is amusing that you all like the middle finger idea, and while it is also amusing that it fits the popular (and usually true ;)) stereotype of New Yorkers rather well, for my part I would prefer it if we could keep the juvenile insolence out of my city.
I would also hate to see a vital part of historic downtown Manhattan turned into a dismal park or memorial. As we New Yorkers say, fuhgetaboutit.
Nor am I particularly interested in something melodramatic or sentimental. The World Trade Center was a symbol of fabulous wealth coupled with grim austerity and hard fucking work. They were big. They were monumental. And they were ugly in a way that made my heart race every time my plane flying home made its final approach.
But they were also unsafe. Specialists are beginning to claim that it was well known after the 93 bombing that if one tower should collapse, it would compromise the structural integrity of the other.
I don’t care whether the new building is bigger, better, ir more flippant, just so long as it is safer.
MR
I don’t think these numbers are right. There are 50,000 --Damnit were. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that-- employees in the WTC. This does not include clients and visitors. The Pentagon is half that and they have no where near the non-employee visitors.
Well, I was trying to keep my estimate conservative; my point was simply that even at the lowest figure, loss of life at the Pentagon was lower by more than a factor of ten.
According to a crawl I saw on NBC this morning, approx. 4700 people are currently reported missing from the WTC disaster. Estimates by NYC officals also say that 10-20K were in the two main towers the morning of the attack, and it is known that a considerable number were able to escape before they fell. This suggests that the total lives lost in the attacks will fall in the 5-8K range. Of course, this doesn’t mean it was any less of an atrocity.
One other note, El Kabong- the area of the Pentagon that was hit was undergoing renovations at the time. Therefore, most of the regular personell in that section had already moved out, and only a few people had actually moved in. Had the plane hit one of the other sections of the building, the death toll probably would have been three to four times higher.
Granted.
These estimates are premature, and according to those who know a great deal about the layout and traffic patters within the WTC believe otherwise. There are far more than 10k people in the towers themselves. At full capacity, they hold more in the neighborhood of 40k.
During rush hour, there are virtually always at least 10k additional people in the underground mall, in which there is a considerable food court and a vital commuter railway station.
If by some miracle the total loss of life were only 5-8k, I would be very, very surprised.
I love this idea. It’s a fitting symbolic punishment.
I agree with those who say the World Trade Center must be rebuilt. It has nothing to do with the value of the real estate. By all means, it should be rebuilt safer and should incorporate a monument, but it must be rebuilt in order to show that America stands strong.
If you look at 19th century “skyscrapers”, they have a base of about 3 or 4 stories that form a fairly ornate base (Corintian columns, metopes, every order of beauty) and then a more utilitarian building on top. Why couldn’t we do the same thing with the new World Trade Center? We could commission the first couple floors as a monument to the fallen, and the remainder as high into the sky as possible.
But…I say we rebuild!!! I think a shining, beautiful building is a monument like no other; not only to those who have died, but to the indominatable human spirit that no attack can ever kill.
Yes Funky McDuck, something like that… And looking at the ASCII version, I think it actually looks like it could be pretty. (If one ignores the not-so subtle imagery.) 
Acutally, just about any design can be looked upon as phallic… that one just makes the intent a little more obvious.
Now that my mind has had a bit more time to chew over this: I still do agree they need to rebuilt. Excactly as before? No! They need to be built better. Using that new method that makes the floors like suspension bridges. (http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DailyNews/bombproof010605.html)
Bigger? I don’t see why, espically when a ‘prettier’ design will give them the impact they need to look big. I can’t see attaching the towers (no matter how many there are) at the top: that would probably reduce the building’s ability to flex in the wind. But maybe something at the lower levels, a memorial bridge spanning between the towers? Have the workers building the new ones write the names of the victims upon the support beams? (While they wouldn’t be seen, they would at least be remembered.) I personally lean towards a memorial garden inbetween the new towers. A place of contemplation in the shadows of what is, what was, and what was never to be.
<< Insert a witty tag line here. >>
Throughout our history, America hasn’t ever backed down in the face of an enemy. We will NEVER back down. In order to further prove this to the rest of the world, we MUST rebuild the towers of the World Trade Center, and we must rebuild bigger and stronger structures than before. News reports earlier stated a good point saying that it wasn’t a fault in the building’s structure that caused the collapse of the towers~ it was the fact that the steel support beams were so greatly weakened by the heat from the burning jet fuel. The new WTC shouldn’t be exactly the same as before, but very similar in my opinion. We should build them even higher just to show that in the aftermath of their attacks, these terrorists did not succeed in shaking our nation’s confidence. The World Trade Center was the symbol of capitalism and wealth in America and the best way to show that we still lead the world in economic power and might is to rebuild the towers in the same spot as before. The World Trade Centers were New York, and New York is America. Rebuilding will prove to the terrorists that when the United States is dealt a blow, we will only come back bigger, stronger, and more united.
America was shocked by this terrible tragedy, but we were in no way broken. In the wake of this event, our great country was brought closer together than ever before. The terrorists who commited these horrendous acts have had their moments of celebration, but it is now time to fight back. It is time for retribution. Those involved and those supporting these groups will pay dearly for their thoughtless acts of violence and hate. The world will finally realize how serious we are about our stance on terrorism and hopefully join us in our fight. As Sen. John McCain said, “God may have mercy on them, but we will not.”
God bless America.
Is this what you had in mind Funky? http://pub38.ezboard.com/fmonklybusiness43508frm1.showMessage?topicID=14483.topic
Woohoo! According to this story, they’re planning on rebuilding the WTC! The developer says he’s not sure what the final form will be like, but they are going to do it!!!
Thanks, Tuckerfan, for pointing that out. I was incredibly overjoyed to hear such good news after so terrible a week. This just goes to prove that you can hit us as hard as you want, but we will only come back again even stronger than before. America has not, and will not ever be broken by terrorism.
From a practical standpoint, yes, they must be rebuilt simply beacuse Manhattan needs the office space. Property there is simply far too valuable to occupy with a simple park or memorial.
Undoubtedly, however, have a memorial at the base of the Towers: Right about where Homer Simpson’s car was parked.
For a memorial, I suggest taking a beam from the wreckage, a big, honkin’ chunk, mangled and twisted, maybe one from each building (including #7) and stick 'em upright in a concrete base. Wrap that base with smooth granite or marble.
Have a brass- hell, use titanium- plaque that says something simple.
“September 11th, 2001.
Never Again.”
Rebuild the towers, in the same location, and the same positions. Round the corners a little for aesthetics and to reduce wind buffeting. Make 'em 115 stories. Make WTC #7 an even sixty.
Add a massive fire suppresion system. Double the emergency stairs and make each set twice as wide. Add powerful ventilators to the stairwells to push out toxic fumes, heat and smoke. Set up a helipad on the roofs for last-ditch emergency evacuations. Set up fire alarms and evacuation plans. Run drills for all employees. Add redundancy for all emergecy systems- sprinklers have two to four main feed pipes and pumps, electrical and emergency systems have redundant connections and automated emergency switching.
And yes, we MUST tell the World we will not be cowed by this.
Great idea, Doc, but I want to add that there must be some phoenix symbology at the memorial portion as well. It would suit the tone of what we were trying to do by rebuilding the WTC, and since the phoenix has been used in other memorials, it wouldn’t look out of place. Say on that great concrete oval slab that the buildings used to be on, near the center of the two buildings a large metal phoenix rising from the ashes, embedded into the sidewalk (it could even be made out of the metal from the old buildings and the planes) with the names of the victims engraved on the feathers, surrounded by some patriotic slogan or other appropriate saying. The beauty of this is that you’d have a lovely memorial and plenty of clear space so that if people needed to evacuate in a hurry, there’d be nothing in the way.